Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round Five
Team: Montrose Magpies
Position: Chaser 3
Task: Write a fic about Percy Weasley
Prompts: Dialogue: "Who is she?", ridiculous, shadow
Words: 1, 378
Link to the song I stole the title from: watch?v=95KuzIMwxZY (listen to it, it's awesome :D Seriously.)
Through the bustle and clatter of the small London coffee shop, her bright smile shone like a lighthouse, and Percy couldn't tear his eyes away. His mind was wiped blank and when her cheery "Can I take your order please?" was directed at him, it took him a couple of seconds before he stuttered "D-d-double espresso, p-please," and blushed like a fool.
She smiled in bemusement at his awkwardness as he cursed himself silently. "Coming right up!" she chirped, and he shoved a fistful of pounds towards her, before scuttling to the pick-up counter.
'Idiot!' He mentally reprimanded himself as he waited. Why had he acted that way? Percy prided himself on his composure. Never a hair out of place, after all he was Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic. With power came responsibility, and Percy was determined to do it right this time.
So how could a simple muggle girl in a coffee shop fluster him so?
A few minutes afterwards, walking down the streets, he allowed himself to finally voice the question on his mind. "Who is she?"
O-o-O-o
It was beginning to get ridiculous. Every morning, rain, hail or shine, without fail he would come to the coffee shop. He told himself it was just because they made a good espresso, oh that's what he told himself, but his mind knew better, and so did his heart.
Every time she smiled at him with her customary "Can I take your order please?" his heart stuttered just like his tongue, beating b-bump b-b-bump until he was red, all over again.
He knew her name now, as her 'Hi, my name is AUDREY' badge proclaimed it loudly.
Audrey. The word sounded like the most beautiful thing he had ever heard, and he wondered if he was going insane.
He knew that she worked on Mondays to Wednesdays, sometimes Fridays, and every second weekend in the evenings, and yet he still couldn't admit the fact that he was infatuated.
After all, they were complete opposites. She had dark eyes and darker hair, and a smile that lit up the room. She was always laughing, always cheerful, surrounded by people who loved her.
And he was just . . . Percy. He couldn't even lay claim to the name Weasley anymore, having so thoroughly removed himself from his family. He was pompous and arrogant and awkward. And alone.
Yes, they were opposites, like black and white, noughts and crosses, day and night. She was the brilliant sun, and he was the silent moon. And Percy had always scorned the saying 'Opposites Attract'.
O-o-O-o
Love wasn't something Percy had had much experience with, actually. When he was fifteen, he had thought he was in love with Penelope Clearwater.
She was smart, beautiful, kind, everything a guy could dream of. When she had agreed to go out with him, he had been ecstatic. Every Valentine's day, he had sent her chocolate, and she had replied with a love letter. It was simple, a routine that he had loved. Surely this was the perfect romance, he had told himself. But when push came to shove, it had proved less so.
She hadn't agreed with his distancing himself from his family, tried to convince him to go back. Penny had been stubborn, but he had been even more. It wasn't the first time they had clashed either, and when a disagreement turned into a row, which became an argument that ended with a screaming match, he had told her to "just leave then" and he had woken up the next morning and her bags were packed and gone. She was gone.
He had thought she was just blowing off steam, calming down alone, and he had waited for her to come home. But one day became two, a week, a month, and eventually he accepted that Penny wasn't coming back.
And just like waking up suddenly, he had realised that he wasn't in love with Penelope anymore, hadn't been for some time. They had both known it deep down, but they had denied it, tried to carry on. They had battled to save a relationship that had disintegrated a long time ago.
They had been too similar, and Percy wondered if maybe the reason he had fallen for her in the first place was because she was like him, and familiarity was comforting and he had felt safe with the things he knew. He wasn't courageous enough to leave familiar grounds, and sometimes he wondered if he was even a Gryffindor after all.
O-o-O-o
It was the shadow that alerted him. He was walking home and as he passed the coffee shop, another shadow joined the one stretching out in front of him in the orange light of the evening.
He knew it was her immediately - the bouncing curls and peppy steps gave away her identity.
Sweat broke out along his brow as he tried to keep his appearance casual, to not react to her presence the way he usually did.
It went this way for three blocks of streets, she walked behind him humming cheerfully, and he strode stiff-backed and nervous until he began to wonder if she was following him.
"of course she isn't following you, you self-absorbed prat,' he told himself sternly, but he couldn't shake the suspicion. 'Why would she follow me anyway? I'm just that weird guy who she serves at work every morning.'
And then she turned a corner, and she was gone.
'So she wasn't following me after all,' he thought. It was strange, but he almost felt . . . disappointed?
But he cast it out of his mind as he disapparated with a loud crack!
O-o-O-o
On the seventh evening that Audrey walked behind him, it was Valentine's Day.
The fact that she had been working on Valentine's day and was now walking home alone gave him a tiny, stupid hope, that maybe, just maybe, he had a chance.
But the memory of his and Penny's Valentine's routine intruded on his thoughts suddenly, and he felt any previous confidence evaporate.
What if he wasn't ready to leave the familiar behind? How could a bright, bubbly person like Audrey ever be interested in a pompous, gloomy person like him?
He slumped further. No, he would never have a chance.
'Are you a Gryffindor, or not?' A phrase he heard many a time now popped into his head without warning. Most commonly said to him by his older brother, Bill, and the twins, it had stung him every time the phrase was directed his way. The doubt and derision it contained killed him inside, just a little. He was a Gryffindor, he had chosen it over Ravenclaw too, all because he had wanted to fit into his family better. They had never understood that, and even though he had made it into the same house as his siblings he had still felt alone.
But Percy was tired of being alone.
He turned abruptly.
"My name is Percy. Percy Weasley." He said, and stuck out his hand to be shaken.
As soon as the words left his mouth, his brain was screaming at him. 'Idiot! Idiot! Now she'll think you're a stalker or something!'
But Audrey didn't seem fazed. In fact, she smiled as though to say finally! "Audrey Phillips," she said cheerfully and took his hand in hers, and after shaking it, she seemed to hold on for a couple seconds too long.
Percy could feel himself blushing and his heart beat faster, and he wondered 'is this what it feels like to be in love?'
"I-I was wondering if . . ." He took a deep breath. 'You can do it, Percy,' he told himself. "I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me, since it's Valentine's day and all, and . . ." He trailed off slightly awkwardly, but congratulating himself on not stuttering.
Audrey smiled and he could have sworn that was a blush he saw dusting her cheeks. "I would love to go get dinner with you, Percy," she said, and their hearts both beat in time with each other, pulses stuttering like scratched records.
They were complete opposites, but after all, opposites always attract.
Well . . . That was a struggle. I literally wrote this an hour ago, the afternoon before the deadline, so apologies if it sucks. I also did not edit so sorry for any errors :3 I just realised - It's not angst! (technically) First ever angst-free fic!*balloons and confetti* Actually, that's probably why I found it so hard to write . . .
Yeaaah, anyway, I hope you liked this fic :) Please review, and maybe even favourite if you think it's worthy!
(Also, if you picked up on the You Me At Six reference (No One Does It Better, AMAZING song :D) then you are awesome! And the title's a YMA6 song too. . . I have a problem XD)